In the early stages of online ad serving technology systems and networks incorporated technology that provided static ad units that generally changed content by looping different creative ad copy. The ad copy may have initially been primarily text, however, with the advent of HTML and then streaming rich media, ad copy changed to include significant amounts of graphics and embedded pictures and even streaming media.
Early on advertisements were displayed using banners and/or buttons. These banners or buttons would be placed on a Web page where a person could view the ad unit along with the content of the Web site. The idea was that if there was interest in the advertisement, the consumer would click on it and they would be redirected to the advertiser's Web site where they could conceivably take action relating to a purchase or subscription or some other transaction. The Web site that ran the banner ad would generate revenues through payments based on a variety of factors, including the number (usually per thousand) of customers that visited the advertiser's Web site (CPM), per click on the advertiser's Web site (CPC), per conversion of a visit to a sale (CPA), or per lead generated (CPL), etc.
As ad serving technology advanced other types and forms of ad units were developed, most notably pop-ups or pop-unders. A pop-up can be defined as: any advertising experience that utilizes a web browser initiated additional window to deliver an ad impression either directly above or below the existing browser experience.
Some examples of those types of ad units include the following:
1. Rectangles and Pop-Ups in various sizes, including: 300×250—Medium Rectangle; 250×250—Square; 240×400—Vertical Rectangle; 336×400—Large Rectangle; 180×150—Rectangle.
2. Banners and Buttons in various sizes, including: 468×60 IMU—(Full Banner); 234×60 IMU—(Half Banner); 88×31 IMU—(Micro Bar); 120×90 IMU—(Button 1); 120×60 IMU—(Button 2); 120×240 IMU—(Vertical Banner); 125×125 IMU—(Square Button); 728×90 IMU—(Leaderboard).
3. Skyscrapers in various sizes, including: 160×600 IMU—(Wide Skyscraper); 120×600 IMU—(Skyscraper); 300×600 IMU—(Half Page Ad).
In mid-1998 to early 1999, email became a preferred means of delivering targeted advertising to a consumer. As this type of marketing became acceptable practice, certain guidelines were adopted by advertisers and recommended and supported by the DMA (Direct Marketing Association). The underlying concept was that as long as a user gave permission to be the recipient of information, either from the Web site that the user was viewing or from a partner Web site, then an advertiser could approach that consumer by sending them an email. This requirement was manifested by permission being granted through opt-in or opt-out boxes that were generally located on registration pages. In order to avoid subversive practices, Privacy Policies were instituted by advertisers and companies that explained to the consumer how their email address and information would be used. The email messages also incorporated certain information identifying the party sending the email, and included an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email to allow a person to remove themselves from the database and no longer receive such emails. Many companies and individuals failed to abide by the DMA requirements and much abuse abounded within email marketing community. The term SPAM was coined to describe unsolicited email.
In the early days, an email marketing campaign would have been a text message with any number of hyper links embedded within the message. As creative elements evolved and with the advent of HTML, there was a marked shift away from text and to HTML. Advertisers often times sent both a text version and a HTML version so that they could increase the delivery ratio.
Spiders and robots were developed to steal email addresses and information without the consumer's knowledge. These were the earliest types of Spyware and adware.
In 2003, a new means of communication with a consumer (user) began to proliferate, through AOL and its AIM (instant messaging) program. Although AIM was not advertising based, it did communicate to the user when one of their buddies signed onto AIM. Prior to this type of notification, the buddy's name merely appeared in a buddy list. The buddy would be told if other buddies were online, and they would not be listed in the buddy list if they were offline.
AOL incorporated an application as part of the AIM program whereby a notice or alert would peek up from the system tray of the computer desktop and notify the user that a buddy in the user's buddy list was now online, idle or had just signed off. Toward the end of 2003, other instances of this type of application were presented to the user, including as a means by which software (e.g., anti-virus) companies could convey to their users that updates were available. In late 2004, this type of application found it's way into products such as Ding (Southwest Airlines) and SnowMate.
These applications associate a web page with an alert notification. These notifications, however, are tied to the site and are not used to send ancillary information to a user other than something that is available directly from the purveyor of the notification.